US prosecutors to seek death penalty in South Carolina church shooting

CHARLESTON, S.C., May 24 (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a white man accused of killing nine black parishioners at a historic church in Charleston, South Carolina, last June, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

"The nature of the alleged crime and the resulting harm compelled this decision," Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement.

Dylann Roof, 22, is accused of opening fire on June 17, 2015, during a Bible study session at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. The killings shook the country and intensified the debate about race in America.

He faces 33 federal charges, including hate crimes, obstruction of religion and firearms offenses. Authorities have accused him of holding white supremacist views, saying he targeted the victims because of their race.

His federal trial had been delayed while U.S. prosecutors decided whether to seek the death penalty. Defense attorneys have said he would plead guilty if he did not face the possibility of execution.

He also faces the state death penalty if convicted of the shooting.

Roof's attorney, Michael O'Connell, declined to comment on the prosecution's decision when reached by phone on Tuesday.

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Charleston SC shooting suspect. Dylann Roof

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US prosecutors to seek death penalty in South Carolina church shooting

Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

Photos found on a website that allegedly belongs to church shooting suspect Dylann Roof.

This image has been provided by the Charleston Police Department, Thursday, June 18, 2015. A man opened fire during a prayer meeting inside a historic black church in downtown Charleston, S.C., Wednesday night, June 17, 2015, killing nine people, including the pastor in an assault that authorities are calling a hate crime. The shooter remained at large Thursday. (Photo via Charleston Police Department)

The Emanuel AME Church is viewed behind a police vehicle on June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina, after a mass shooting at the Church on the evening of June 17, 2015. US police on Thursday arrested a 21-year-old white gunman suspected of killing nine people at a prayer meeting in one of the nation's oldest black churches in Charleston, an attack being probed as a hate crime. The shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in the southeastern US city was one of the worst attacks on a place of worship in the country in recent years, and comes at a time of lingering racial tensions. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

A police officer holds up a tape in front of the Emanuel AME Church June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina, after a mass shooting at the church on the evening of June 17, 2015. US police on Thursday arrested a 21-year-old white gunman suspected of killing nine people at a prayer meeting in one of the nation's oldest black churches in Charleston, an attack being probed as a hate crime. The shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in the southeastern US city was one of the worst attacks on a place of worship in the country in recent years, and comes at a time of lingering racial tensions. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

A view ofthe Emanuel AME Church is seen June 18, 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina, after a mass shooting at the church on the evening of June 17, 2015. US police on Thursday arrested a 21-year-old white gunman suspected of killing nine people at a prayer meeting in one of the nation's oldest black churches in Charleston, an attack being probed as a hate crime. The shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in the southeastern US city was one of the worst attacks on a place of worship in the country in recent years, and comes at a time of lingering racial tensions. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

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The government said in court documents it would prove a number of factors that would justify a death sentence, saying Roof had planned the killing and showed a lack of remorse.

Joseph Meek, Roof's 21-year-old friend who pleaded guilty last month to federal charges related to the shooting, said Roof had planned the shooting for six months and wanted to start a race war.

Federal prosecutors rarely seek the death penalty against defendants. Since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, about three people a year on average have been sentenced to death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit group in Washington.

The most recent death penalty carried out by the federal government occurred in 2003, when Louis Jones was executed by lethal injection for the kidnapping and murder of a 19-year-old Army private.

Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death in May 2015 for helping carry out the 2013 attack that killed three people and wounded 264 others at the race's finish line.

(Reporting by Harriet McLeod in Charleston, S.C.; Additional reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Fla. and David Ingram in New York; Additional reporting and writing by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Dan Grebler and Peter Cooney)